Joseph Dionysius Odevaere

Paul Duvivier, Paris, 1925;
Thence by descent.

Paris, Salon, 1820, no. 106 (where called Narcisse se mirant dans l’eau. Figures de grandeur naturelle);
Brussels, Musée Royal des Beaux-Arts, David et son temps, 1925, no. 68.

L. Marie de Bast, Annales du Salon de Gand et de l’école moderne des Pays-Bas, Gand 1823, p. 22;
David et son temps, exhibition catalogue, Brussels 1925, p. 18, cat. no. 68. 

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This work has been restored. Apart from a couple of small scuffs to the varnish on the right edge and a couple of retouches to the frame, the work is in very presentable condition. The canvas has an old lining, with an additional vertical patch on the reverse attending to a vertical line of restorations running through the right shin of the figure down into the rocks below. It is unclear whether this is a scratch or an actual break in the canvas. Nonetheless, it is reasonably well restored and certainly not an issue for a picture from this period. Elsewhere in the picture, there are very isolated retouches in the blue fabric in the lower left and some spots in the dark green foliage behind the figure addressing some cracking and thinness. The figure and his face remain unretouched, except for a loss in his shin. The condition is particularly good throughout the remainder of the picture.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Engraved: Pierre-Jean de Vlamynck (1795-1850) (see fig. 1).

A student of Joseph Benoît Suvée and Jacques Louis David, the Belgian artist Odevaere was renowned for his meticulous draftsmanship and theatrical compositions. Odevaere received his training at the Academy of Bruges, after which time he moved to Paris to work in Joseph-Benoît Suvée's studio, and then finally on to Jacques Louis David's, where he entered in 1801. Odevaere ingratiated himself with the French artistic community, no doubt through his connections to David, for whom he assisted on his second version of the Coronation of Napolean in Versailles. Along with Joseph Ruxthiel (1775-1837), Odevaere was the only Belgian painter to be awarded the first grand prize of the Prix de Rome, for which his Death of Phocion (Paris, National School of Fine Arts) was the winning entry. Odevaere's later style, to which this Narcissus belongs, is clearly indedbted to the Italian Renaissance and antiquity, no doubt developed during his sojourn to Italy towards the end of 1805.